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Jorge Gurgel has a picture of him and his mother, Silvia Gallo, in his office.(Photo: Byron McCauley)

Soon enough, Jorge Gurgel, pronounced Gur-JELL, will take them through their paces in a group lesson in a gymnasium-sized space downstairs. He is a fourth-degree black belt who has trained mixed-martial arts champions at the highest level.

But first things first. Some of the kids take a detour and make their way around the counter where a lady is serving protein smoothies. They find “Professor” Gurgel perched on a barstool.

They lean in for a hug.

“Hello, how are you doing today?” they ask.

“Fine, thank you, how are you?” Gurgel answers.

It’s sort of a ritual that provides a glimpse into Gurgel’s relationship with his students – especially the kids. “My job is to educate and build hard-working, accountable human beings,” Gurgel said. “My job is not to (teach them) to punch somebody in the face.”

Call it peace through strength.

“My students come to me and ask me, 'Professor, why do you always preach peace and harmony and responsibility, and you teach us violence?’ I tell them to pay attention. Would you rather be a warrior in the garden, or a gardener in the middle of a war?”

One of many life lessons being shared by a guy who has had his share of them.

Gurgel left his native Brazil as an 21-year-old student with a $2,700 scholarship to earn an international business degree from Wright State University in Dayton. At the same time, he was building himself into a fighting machine. The fledgling and brutal sport of MMA was taking notice. He left school a semester short of completing his degree to fight professionally. He never looked back.

Gurgel won 12 of his first 15 fights, eventually becoming a popular UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fighter and starring in Season 2 of the Ultimate Fighter TV series. In the ring, he has fought with a torn Achilles tendon, a broken jaw and has experienced internal bleeding. Yet, outside the ring was where things would become tough.

In 2012 Gurgel learned that his stepfather, died of a brain tumor.

Shortly after that, Gurgel and his wife divorced.

On Aug. 29, 2014, a cab driver hit and pinned his mother, a well-known Pilates instructor, under his car on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Good Samaritans lifted the car, but nothing could be done. Silvia Gallo, Gurgel’s best friend and biggest champion, died at 57.

That day, he decided to retire from competitive fighting after 15 years.

Everybody goes through tough times, and Gurgel is the kind of fellow who can take a punch. No excuses. Take responsibility. Keep moving forward. The day after his mother was cremated in New York, he was back in his Ohio gym, teaching students.

Rich Franklin of Cincinnati, the former UFC middleweight champion, has known Gurgel for more than 20 years. Gurgel trained him and was there for him when his own father died. Franklin said Gurgel has grit and has never chosen the easy path, referencing Gurgel's immigration to United States and subsequent success.

“This was a roadblock. Because Jorge was who he was, he was able to handle that better than most people. The stuff who he was to the core had already been defined,” Franklin said.

Meanwhile, Bridget Lieb, whose son has been a student with Gurgel for four years, was keeping an eye Gurgel. A former New York chef, the West Chester mom had bonded with Silvia Gallo when she came to Ohio to see her son. “She was the most beautiful person, inside and out,” she said. “It wasn’t just because she was his mother, it was because I knew they really loved each other,” she said.

Lieb came to witness the evolution of Gurgel, “who handled himself from that moment on with the tools that his mom gave him -- grace and strength and just embracing himself,” Lieb said. Clearly, his second calling is teaching, she said.

Gurgel tells me he was not ready to retire in 2014. At 40, he looks as fit ever. Without hesitation, he snaps that he could be ready to fight in six weeks if he had to. His mom always wanted him to focus on the business, perhaps never fully grasping that her son's love of fighting was like an addition.

“I still have itchy knuckles,” he said.

That fight will never happen, of course, because “under my breath” he promised his mother that he was finished.

Today, Gurgel is the peaceful warrior in the garden. He lives with his girlfriend of two years, Jamie Patterson. He is happier than ever.

“Now my job is to create a new generation of champions inside and outside of the ring. She (Gallo) always used to say ‘it’s time for you to retire, son, you have been fighting for 15 years … How are you going to make champions?” You are never going to make champions if you don’t give them your time. You’ve got to stop fighting now; it’s time to pay it forward. You’ve got to give those people your time.”

He’s paying it forward now. He’s giving them his time.

Byron McCauley writes a general interest column on Wednesdays and Fridays and is a member of The Enquirer editorial board. He can be reached at bmccauley@enquirer.com or 513-768-8565. Follow him @byronmccauley on Twitter.